Kristi Astor
As a girl, I was fascinated by history. My favorite books were historical sagas that transported me back in time—Gone With the Wind, Doctor Zhivago, Pride and Prejudice, A Room With a View, and popular fiction like John Jakes' North and South series. I also loved movies, particularly anything with a hint of romance. As a teenager, my mother and I passed romance novels back and forth, and I remember discovering Kathleen Woodiwiss, Judith McNaught, and a slew of Zebra historicals with that little hologram seal on the front. I was almost never without a book in my hands, oftentimes staying up all night to finish a story that particularly captivated me, and the stories often flowed over into my own imagination as I pictured additional scenes, epilogues, and sequels to my favorite books.
Fast forward to the present, and not much has changed except that I'm now married to my own real-life 'hero' and the mother of two young daughters. But I'm still captivated by books and movies, often to the point of obsession, and I'm still making up scenes and stories in my mind—only this time, the stories and characters are my own. Even better, those Zebra historicals that I loved so much sometimes bear my own name on the glossy covers. Inspired by the Jane Austen classics I love so well, I've written four Regency-set historical romances as Kristina Cook (UNLACED, UNVEILED, UNDRESSED, and TO LOVE A SCOUNDREL). When I'm not writing fiction, I'm writing grant proposals for some of New York City's top cultural institutions as a freelance grantwriter.
And now, as Kristi Astor, I'm taking on a new historical era—the Edwardian period. Think "A Room With a View," "Somewhere In Time," and "Titanic." It's an era of elegance, of romance, and of great nostalgia.
I hope you'll join me as I journey back to that time and place.
